4 ms·

Maybe a little OT but: Can you be considered an "ist" by having just a BS degree. That is, physicist, computer scientist, etc... If no, what is the requiremen

Maybe a little OT but: Can you be considered an "ist" by having just a BS degree. That is, physicist, computer scientist, etc... If no, what is the requirement? Masters or PhD?

JohnsonB 14y ago
You don't even need formal qualifications for those, just the actual skill, and then it's up to people to asses if you have them.
- richardjordan 14y ago
  Right. A bit like an artist. You don't need an advanced degree in art to be an accomplished artist. Plus the idea of formalized education with narrowly focused advanced degrees is fairly recent, and for most of the history of the discipline Physicists have not been so qualified.
richardjordan 14y ago
I did a BSc in Physics. I consider myself a Physicist by education, just as I consider Musk to be. You are trained to be a Physicist whether you pursue a career in that field or not. As I mentioned on a post recently talking about research projects, my final year project in 1995, without going into too much detail, was modeling the expansion of the universe assuming a non-zero cosmological constant and tracing the paths of light through such an expanding/contracting/whatever universe, depending on assumed values, and studying the likely distribution of hydrogen absorption lines as it passed through a posited foam-like structure of walls and filaments of matter. This was a relatively off the wall topic at the time, but for anyone studying Physics today you'll know a lot of these things now represent the state of thinking in many ways. People might pursue these topics to a much deeper level in order to get a Masters or PhD but you still need to be a Physicist at any level to dive into such a project and produce a result. At least that's my 2c - it's all just semantics, and as such there are many possible answers here :-)
CamperBob2 14y ago
If no, what is the requirement? Masters or PhD Launching payloads to the ISS is good enough for me.
- Evbn 14y ago
  That was done by Musks company, not Musk alone.
  - lostlogin 14y ago
    There aren't many achievements that are truly solo efforts - there is usually someone keeping the home fires burning at the very least.
MaysonL 14y ago
Go look up Ed Fredkin or Amory Lovins.
fudged71 14y ago
Maybe a little OT but: By law, no one can practise as a "professional engineer" in Canada or the United States without a licence. The BS is just one part of becoming a professional engineer.

Maybe a little OT but: Can you be considered an "ist" by having just a BS degree. That is, physicist, computer scientist, etc... If no, what is the requirement? Masters or PhD?

JohnsonB 14y ago

You don't even need formal qualifications for those, just the actual skill, and then it's up to people to asses if you have them.

richardjordan 14y ago
Right. A bit like an artist. You don't need an advanced degree in art to be an accomplished artist. Plus the idea of formalized education with narrowly focused advanced degrees is fairly recent, and for most of the history of the discipline Physicists have not been so qualified.

richardjordan 14y ago

I did a BSc in Physics. I consider myself a Physicist by education, just as I consider Musk to be. You are trained to be a Physicist whether you pursue a career in that field or not. As I mentioned on a post recently talking about research projects, my final year project in 1995, without going into too much detail, was modeling the expansion of the universe assuming a non-zero cosmological constant and tracing the paths of light through such an expanding/contracting/whatever universe, depending on assumed values, and studying the likely distribution of hydrogen absorption lines as it passed through a posited foam-like structure of walls and filaments of matter. This was a relatively off the wall topic at the time, but for anyone studying Physics today you'll know a lot of these things now represent the state of thinking in many ways. People might pursue these topics to a much deeper level in order to get a Masters or PhD but you still need to be a Physicist at any level to dive into such a project and produce a result. At least that's my 2c - it's all just semantics, and as such there are many possible answers here :-)

CamperBob2 14y ago

If no, what is the requirement? Masters or PhD Launching payloads to the ISS is good enough for me.

Evbn 14y ago
That was done by Musks company, not Musk alone.
- lostlogin 14y ago
  There aren't many achievements that are truly solo efforts - there is usually someone keeping the home fires burning at the very least.

MaysonL 14y ago

Go look up Ed Fredkin or Amory Lovins.

fudged71 14y ago

Maybe a little OT but: By law, no one can practise as a "professional engineer" in Canada or the United States without a licence. The BS is just one part of becoming a professional engineer.